How Did We End Up Here?
by blisswoe
Summary: It's the group's freshman year of high school and they're no longer a group. Lucas now hangs with the jocks, Farkle with the theater geeks. Maya and Riley are beginning to drift apart. How did they end up here and what's in store for them? Lucaya. Warnings: mild language and smoking/drinking in future chapters.
1. Chapter 1

_Why are we even friends? _Lucas wondered as he watched Tristan's mouth move.

Tristan continued to drone on- about a girl, about last night's game, about a party- and Lucas continued to pretend to listen to his best friend.

Why were they friends? Well, it was simple, he guessed. They were friends because of football in the winter, baseball in the summer. They were friends because, well, they had to be. Jocks hung out with other jocks. It's just the rules of high school.

They were not friends because they actually liked each other.

He hadn't had friends he actually liked in years. How sad is that? The last time he had friends- _real _friends- was the eighth grade, before it all fell apart.

Back then he had Riley, he had Farkle, and perhaps best of all, he had Maya. Back then, things were different. Back then, Maya didn't hang with the burnouts, Riley didn't hate him, and Farkle didn't pretend not to know him. Back then he depended on them, and he knew they depended on him too.

But that was _then. _This is _now. _

This is _high school._

"Am I right, bro?" Tristan asked as he finished his story.

"Yeah, man." Lucas said automatically, although he had no idea if Tristan was right or not.

Tristan was tall and muscular. His dark brown curls fell in front of his eyes. He was the school's QB, which made him even more popular with the ladies.

Tristan smiled, playfully punching his friend in the shoulder before launching into another pointless story. Lucas, still not listening, allowed his eyes to wander the school courtyard. He set his gaze on Maya, who was leaning against one a red plastic picnic table taking a long drag of the cigarette in her hand. She was surrounded by her new group of friends.

There was Cassidy Mitchell, the girl who was suspended for a month for beating a girl to a bloody pulp in the lunchroom, Kyle Ashcroft, AKA the biggest stoner in the school, and Nick Gretzky, who was suspended for stealing the answers to a biology test.

He could see the giant grin plastered on her face as she talked animatedly to the group, laughing in between cigarette drags.

Why was she hanging out with these people? She wasn't like them. Sure, Maya was no angel, but she didn't belong with people like them. She was rough on the outside, but Lucas knew she was sweet, caring, and even soft on the inside.

Or maybe she wasn't. Maybe he didn't really know her as much as he thought he did.

They had once been very close, yes, but that was in middle school, and Lucas knew first hand how much people could change between middle and high school.

So maybe she did belong with people like them. He did not know for sure. It's not like they were friends anymore.

Their friendship tore when he and Riley broke up in eighth grade. He couldn't blame her, though. She had known Riley for years. He'd broken Riley's heart, after all. It was his fault.

But he couldn't help but resent his old group for leaving him completely friendless. Farkle had taken Riley's side too. Again, they'd been best friends for longer. But that didn't appear to matter to him now, as he completely abandoned Riley and Maya after middle school.

Riley and Maya were still friends, as far as he knew, but apparently Maya had other friends now. They obviously weren't as inseparable as they were just a year prior, as his ex girlfriend was no where to be seen at the moment.

Lucas was well over 6 feet tall now. He was handsome (his mom said), a hottie (his dates said), a great athlete (his coach said), bright (his teachers said), unhappy (he said).

The bell rang, signaling freshman lunch hour was over, and the students began heading inside the school. Lucas took one last glance at the petite blonde girl he once called his best friend. He watched her put out her cigarette as Nick wound an arm tightly around her waist. He craned his neck to watch her and her group of friends walk off school property, presumably ditching school. He shook his head. Why was she getting herself mixed up in all of that? She was so much better than those delinquents.

"Dude," Tristan said loudly, waving a hand in Lucas's face.

"I'm listening." He grumbled as the two started to walk inside the school.

"What the fuck are you looking at?"

"Nothing." He said, rolling his eyes. Tristan punched his shoulder once again.

"Maya, huh? She's pretty hot." He smirked.

"Shut up."

"What? I'm just saying. She seems pretty easy, you might have a chance."

"Shut up!" He said, more force in his voice this time. Tristan laughed.

"Did I strike a nerve? Hate to break it to you, but she's totally doing that loser, Nick." He said as if he knew anything about Maya's life.

"You don't know anything. She's not..." He started, but gave up halfway through.

At that moment, he realized he knew just as much about Maya's life as Tristan did. How did it end up like this?


	2. Chapter 2

For five months and six days, Lucas was in love.

Wake up happy type of love. Excited to go to school type of love. Smile through his parent's lectures type of love.

Lucas loved Riley. And he felt sure that he was going to love her forever.

His entire world revolved around her. He did dumb things and sent dumb text messages and went on dumb dates at dumb locations (which weren't dumb to him when he was with Riley) to make her happy. Nothing else mattered. Nothing but Riley, and slow make out sessions and the way she said his name.

_Lucas._

No one else could say his name the way she could.

For five months and six days, Lucas was in love. For the remaining three and a half months of their relationship, he was in hell. Because after a while, Riley started to get scared.

Riley was terrified that someone would steal Lucas away from her. To her, she would never be good enough for him. She was painfully boring and he was endlessly fascinating. She was only moderately cute and he was a knockout. She just knew that he would grow tired of her and replace with someone else. Someone prettier, someone thinner, someone better.

Whenever she saw Lucas with another girl, it drove her crazy. Lucas had always been well liked, but once things between him and Riley started to get serious, suddenly he became _hot. _

Girls at school would make snide comments towards Riley, suggesting Lucas ditch her in favor of them. Parties were the worst. It wasn't Lucas's fault, but it seemed like every time he was left alone for even a second, another girl would hit on him.

"Why are you talking to her?" Riley would demand.

Gradually his responses changed from conciliatory ("I'm not, baby, let's go") to irritated ("We're just _talking _Riley. Back off"), which only made Riley even more worried.

At yet another party, Riley returned from the bathroom to find Lucas talking to yet another girl. Didn't he ever talk to guys? Riley felt anger bubbling up inside of her. She was getting tired of this. So was he. She crossed the room and the girl turned- it was Missy.

"Hey, Riley." Lucas greeted with a small smile.

"Hey, Riley." Missy echoed, a smirk on her face.

"Hey, Lucas." Riley said back, folding her arms across her chest. That's when Lucas realized he couldn't hear it anymore. That magical way she said his name, it was gone.

"I guess I should go." Missy laughed, throwing a catty glance at Riley before walking off.

"Why were you talking to her?" Riley demanded, not caring that Missy could still hear her.

"Um, she's my friend?"

"Um," Riley mimicked. "You have a crush on her!"

"I _had _a crush on her. In, like, seventh grade."

"Well we're not in seventh grade anymore, Lucas. She's probably trying to get with you."

Lucas stayed quiet for a few moments. He was so sick of this. Didn't she realize that she was pushing him away?

"Riley, not every girl I talk to is trying to 'get with me'!" He shouted, raking his hands through his hair.

Riley looked hurt, and Lucas immediately felt guilty.

"...I just want it to be the two of us." She said quietly. He reached for her hand and squeezed it lovingly.

"It is," He murmured, pulling her to him and kissing her forehead. "Just you and me, baby."

But it wasn't.

It wasn't just Lucas and Riley.

It was Lucas and Riley and her paranoia and fear that he would leave her.

In the weeks to come, Riley couldn't seem to stop herself. She became clingier than ever. She looked at his phone when he left the room. If he didn't answer her texts for an hour, she called and called until he picked up.

Lucas had stayed with her for so long because he didn't want to hurt her. He didn't want to make her cry, because he loved her. He did. Maybe he didn't love her the way he did at the start of their relationship, but he loved her. But he could only take so much.

Eventually, he ended it.

"I'm tired, Riley." He groaned in the middle of yet another argument. "I don't want to do this anymore."

It turned out _forever _lasted eight and a half months.

Riley was heartbroken. She just knew it was because Lucas had found someone better. She spent weeks crying into Maya's leather clad shoulder and watching sad movies.

When Lucas broke up with her, he had not thought about how it would effect his relationship with everyone else. Maya and Farkle had been best friends with Riley since the first grade. How could he have been so stupid to believe they wouldn't take her side? Why did they have to take sides, anyway?

He had honestly thought that Riley and him would be able to be friends and everything would be normal again. Sure, it might be a little bit awkward, but if Lucas was okay with it, why couldn't Riley be okay with it too?

He never expected his best- scratch that, his _only_- friends to just turn him away like they didn't share precious memories.

He walked into the lunchroom the Monday after he and Riley had broken up. He took his usual seat at their usual lunch table.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" He said nonchalantly. Maya and Farkle stared at him.

Maya looked pissed, and Farkle just looked confused- sad, almost. Riley kept her gaze fixed on her shoes.

"What's up?" He repeated.

"What's up? Seriously? What makes you think you can sit here?" Maya demanded loudly, though she wasn't quite yelling yet.

He had not yet connected the dots and realized they had taken Riley's side. It was such a small possibility to him, he hadn't even thought of it. He was honestly confused as to why Maya was so angry.

"Um... I always sit here?"

"Yeah? Well, you don't anymore." She smirked, standing up and carrying her tray over to him.

"Maya, _don't." _Riley cut in sternly. Maya ignored her best friend and proceeded to dump her plate of mashed potatoes and corn on his head.

Lucas stood up, feeling like an idiot for not realizing what was going on sooner. How could he have just sat with them like nothing had changed? He wasn't even angry. He deserved it. And he knew Maya was going easy on him. He brushed the excess mashed cafeteria food off of him and turned to face his friends. He started to apologize, but he was lost for words. He just stood there staring at them.

"Leave." Maya demanded. He remained silent. She rose from her seat again but kept her distance from him. "_Leave._" She repeated through gritted teeth.

"Farkle...?" He asked, desperately hoping his friend would stick up for him. Farkle just shook his head in response.

"I'm sorry, Riley." He said quietly before exiting the lunchroom.

He really did think this would all blow over and they could go back to being friends again. He thought Riley would get over him and they could just be happy being friends. Riley did get over him, but they never patched things up.

He was left to make all new friends. He was the new kid, he Maya, Riley, and Farkle were the only people he knew. Sure, he had 'friends' from football and baseball. He had people he talked to sometimes and went to parties with, but he never considered those people friends. He just couldn't find the same connection he did with the group.

He eventually decided that having popular friends who he secretly hated was better than eating lunch alone every day. This is probably where he began to lose himself. But that's just how things are sometimes.


	3. Chapter 3

It was a Saturday night and Lucas was at a party. This was such a constant in his life that he wondered sometimes if he was on a carousel, going round and round and round. Another Saturday night, another party. No variation, just different brands of beer.

Lucas had developed quite a taste for the stuff. He found that beer made everything better. No matter what happened, there was always beer.

"Hey, let's play a game!" Said Callie, the host of this particular party. Lucas took another swig of his beer before standing up.

"Alright," He agreed halfheartedly. Callie smiled flirtatiously at him. Then her gaze went over his head.

He heard the sound of the front door opening behind him, the approach of someone new.

"Oh, hey," Callie smiled at someone behind him. He didn't bother to look just yet. "You're just in time. We're gonna play a game! You'll both need drinks. Lucas, get them drinks."

Lucas spun around and saw-

_Maya and Riley._

Riley smiled in that fake way everyone does when they run into someone from their past. Maya kept her expression neutral.

"Hey, Lucas!" Riley greeted, brushing his shoulder a bit. Her touch made his heart pound in his chest. Not in a romantic kind of way, in an panicky kind of way.

"Hey, Riley, Maya..." He said quietly.

He quickly cut his eyes away from their's and walked into the kitchen. He grabbed another beer for himself and two for the girls. He then walked back to where they were now seated and handed each of them their drink.

Riley still had this childlike enthusiasm to her, he noticed. She seemed so excited to be at a party with beer and boys and no parents. Although Lucas knew, even now, she wouldn't actually drink the beer or talk to any boys. Same old Riley.

Maya, however, was leaned against the wall chugging her beer. _Save some for the game! _Lucas thought with a chuckle. He then wondered why he was chuckling. They weren't friends. His imaginary conversations with her would never be their playful banter in Mr. Matthews' history class.

Why was she drinking so much? He wondered if she drank to escape her problems, like he did. Or maybe she was like Tristan, who drank for the sole purpose of making bad decisions. He didn't want her to drink for any of those reasons. Or at all. He didn't know why he cared about her safety, but he did. He made a mental note to keep her out of trouble tonight, though he wasn't completely sober himself, and took a seat in the half formed circle of party guests.

"What game are we gonna play?" Lucas asked.

"Seven Minutes in Heaven!" Someone suggested.

Lucas hated the way his stomach lurched with memories at sound of the dumb party game. He made eye contact with Maya and instantly knew she was remembering, too.

"C'mon, that's so middle school." He said with a roll of the eyes.

"Okay," Callie started. "How about I've Never? You all know how that works right? You say something you've never done and everyone who's done it has to drink."

Everyone agreed and rearranged themselves into a more complete circle.

"Okay, I'll go first." Callie said. She bit her lip, thinking hard. "I've never smoked."

Lucas took a swig of his beer and watched as a few others (including Maya) did the same.

The game continued. Nothing particularly interesting happened.

"I've never been dumped." Said a girl named Amy.

Lucas had never been dumped. Mainly because other than his relationship with Riley, he'd never really had a girlfriend. Just a series hookups with strange girls at parties. He glanced up to see Riley taking a sip of her beer.

He didn't know what bothered him more; the look in her eyes, or the fact that his innocent little Riley was drinking.

"I've never lost my virginity." A girl named Amanda said, giving a virtuous little smile.

Lucas saw Maya drink from across the room. He didn't want to know that. Why did he keep looking at them? He set his bottle down on the floor and stood up abruptly.

"Hey, we're still playing!" Callie called after him.

He brushed her off, mumbling something about going to the bathroom, and walked out of the house's sliding glass doors.

"That's not the bathroom!" She called again, but he just kept walking into the cool night air.

Lucas wandered around in the darkness for a few moments before taking a seat on a stone bench by the swimming pool. He put his head in his hands, sighing deeply. What was up with him lately? Seeing Maya and Riley should't bother him. Why did he even care if they drank or if Riley was still upset about the breakup or if Maya wasn't a virgin? They weren't friends anymore. They were just strangers with memories.

"Hey." Said a soft, familiar voice from behind him. He whirled around and came face to face with Maya.

Lucas was speechless. He had imagined the day one of his old friends talked to him again a thousand times, and now that it was happening he had nothing to say. His throat felt dry and a knot was forming in his stomach.

"Mind if I sit?" She asked. He nodded slightly, scooting over to make room for her.

A thousand questions flooded his mind as he watched her light a cigarette. Part of him was thrilled that she was sitting with him. Part of him hoped they would be friends again. The bigger part of him knew he was being dumb. She held out a cigarette to him. Lucas had only smoked once, and he hated it, but he found himself taking the cigarette from her and lighting it on her's.

He took a long drag off his cigarette and immediately coughed, causing the blonde girl to laugh. Oh, how he missed that laugh of her's.

"Don't tell me this is your first time smoking, Mr. Party Animal." She teased. He laughed nervously.

"Why do you even do that?" He asked out of no where.

"Do what?" She asked, folding her arms and raising her eyebrows.

"Y'know. Smoke." He replied, scratching his neck awkwardly.

"Well you're smoking too, so you can't really talk, now can you, Mr. Perfect?" She said sarcastically.

"That's not... Never mind." He said, shaking his head. She tossed her cigarette into the pool before standing up.

"Good night, Friar." She said dully before returning to the warm house.

Lucas sat their, frozen to the stone bench. Why did she get so defensive? He wondered if that was his only shot at ever being friends again. Then he realized it was stupid to think he even had a shot. Would he ever move on from his middle school life?


	4. Chapter 4

_**Eighth grade **_

"No bystanders!" Snapped Missy as Lucas entered the room.

It was Missy's birthday party, to which Lucas had received a Facebook invite to, which came complete with sparkly text and lots of emojis. So far, the party was not fun enough to warrant ten smiley faces.

Downstairs, people were playing Just Dance and decorating cupcakes with way too much enthusiasm. Here, upstairs, the mood was more muted. In Chelsea's bedroom, about a dozen of Lucas's classmates were gathered in a circle playing what looked like Spin the Bottle with an app on Missy's phone. Lucas reluctantly joined them, when he caught Maya staring at him from across the room.

_What is she doing here? _Lucas thought to himself, glancing around the room for Riley, who wasn't there. Last time he checked, Maya hated Missy. Unless they made up. But Maya was not the forgiving type. He knew from personal experience.

He had broken up with Riley four months ago and Maya still refused to talk to him.

"It's Maya's turn!" Missy yelled bossily.

Maya, who looked less than thrilled to be there, leaned forward and pressed the picture of the bottle on the phone and it began to spin.

Lucas held his breath as he watched the bottle spin around and around and around. As he watched, he felt the inevitability of it all. It would land on him. He knew it. He _felt _it.

Finally, the bottle stopped spinning. It landed on a dead space between two girls from his math class. Maya rolled her eyes, clearly tired of this game already, and spun again. Again, it landed on a dead space. This time between Lucas and a girl named Gretchen.

"It's the person closest!" Said someone.

"Just let her go again!" Another person called.

"No, it;s the person closest! That's the rules!"

"It's me." Lucas said blandly.

Lucas was tired of this whole game too. They'd kiss and it would be over with. It wasn't a big deal. Maybe it would even make things better, maybe relieve some tension. Maybe if they kissed, Maya would speak to him again.

Lucas closed his eyes, leaning towards the middle of the circle, expecting to meet Maya's lips at any second. Maya, however, was climbing to her feet.

"It's Seven Minutes in Heaven, Lucas." Missy said in a 'duh' tone.

Lucas shook it off and followed Maya towards the closet. His feet felt numb all of the sudden. He felt like he was going to trip as he crossed the room. Everyone was staring at him. When he finally reached the closet, someone slammed the door shut behind them and he was alone. Alone with Maya.

It was a tiny linen closet, filled with towels and sheets. It was barely enough space for two people to stand up without touching. Lucas knew this because he and Maya were not touching. There was a tiny gap between them as they stood, pressed against opposite walls of shelves.

The room smelled of laundry detergent and some other peculiar smell he couldn't place. Then he realized, it was Maya. Maya's smell.

Lucas flipped on the light switch and saw that Maya had her arms folded against her chest, as per usual. Her blonde waves fell in her face and he noticed how much she'd grown since seventh grade. She was still much shorter than him, but she'd gotten a bit taller. She had also lost her baby face. She looked more mature, more womanly. He couldn't help but notice it.

"So..." He started awkwardly. "I guess we should kiss."

"Why?"

"Because that's the game. It's, like, the rules or something."

"The rules don't mean anything. A lot of rules don't mean anything."

_Oh god. _He thought. The only thing worse than spending seven minutes kissing Maya was spending seven minutes talking to her. To have to look her in the eye. To have to come up with responses to her snide remarks. To have to think about why they weren't friends anymore. To have to pretend like he wasn't extremely attracted to her...

"I don't think I want my first kiss to be in a game." She said after a long silence. "I think I want it to mean something. I want it to be something I smile at when I think about it. When people ask me about my first kiss, I don't want to tell them it was with a stranger in a cramped closet at a stupid birthday party."

Did she just refer to him as a stranger?

"Why can't we just be friends again?" Lucas blurted out.

He could hear how pathetically desperate he sounded but he didn't care. He wanted to be friends with Maya. He wanted to be more than friends with Maya. But he knew, even if they started talking again, they could never be more than friends again. Not with his past with Riley.

"Because I can't trust you." She said plainly.

Lucas was expecting her to say more. He expected her to pick a fight with him, to make him feel worse about what he put Riley through. But no. Maya was done.

That was the thing about Maya. She was so passionate, so stubborn, so fiery... But when she was done, she was done. No getting around it.

Lucas was growing irritated.

"It's Seven Minutes in Heaven. We're supposed to kiss." He persisted.

"I told you I don't want to." She said, sounding irritated herself.

"I think you're scared."

Maya unfolded her arms, her face flushing.

"I don't get scared. You're smart enough to know that, Friar."

"You're scared because you've never been kissed."

He was aware that he was manipulating her and he didn't even know why. He was manipulating her and it was working. Maya looked mad. She was caving.

Maya reached up and flipped off the light switch, smothering them in darkness. For a second, Lucas thought she was going to open the door and leave.

Then he felt Maya's soft hands grip his shoulders. In the dark, Lucas couldn't see her clearly. He could feel her, though. Warm. So warm. She pressed her hand to his cheek, tilting his head downward to accept the press of her lips against his.

As they kiss, Lucas initially felt accomplished. Triumphant, even. He had successfully manipulated her. He was now lodged in her memories forever. For the rest of her life, she would be forced to think of him when she thought of her first kiss. Maybe she would even smile.

The triumph was quickly replaced with intense want. He wanted to keep kissing Maya.

It felt like the closet walls were closing in on them. The tininess of the place intensified. All he could feel was Maya's warmth pressed up against his.

She pulled away after a few moments and he quickly drew her into another one, open mouthed, instinctive. This was not the awkward kissing of a dare. This was kissing of pure want, no, pure _need. _Hot and thrilling and everything Lucas wished his first kiss was like.

Light flooded the closet suddenly, as the door opened.

The seven minutes were up. the spell was broken.

After that day, Lucas had convinced himself that things had changed. He had kissed Maya, and now things were back to normal. He was wrong, of course.

After class, Lucas would wait outside the classroom for Maya, hoping she would stop and talk to him. (She never did.) He always smiled at her when the teachers said they needed partners for an assignment, hoping she would smile back and be his partner. (She never did.) He even sometimes sat alone at lunch, away from Tristan and his other jock friends, hoping she would feel bad for him and sit with him. (She never did.)

Eventually, he realized he had to stop being so hopeful. It only ended up hurting him, anyway. He stopped trying to catch Maya's eye. He stopped smiling at her. He started partnering up with other cute girls.

But Maya was always in the back of his mind.


End file.
